


The Curiosities of Jabber & Locksley

by OfMonstersAndWerewolves



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials Fusion, Daemons, F/F, His Dark Materials AU, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, daemons AU, eventually, hopefully
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:22:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28135365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfMonstersAndWerewolves/pseuds/OfMonstersAndWerewolves
Summary: There exists a number of worlds in which a person's soul manifests itself in the form of an animal: a daemon. Some are large, ferocious creatures and others are smaller, quieter ones. Many still are something in between.Alice Jones and her daemon Jabberwocky are trying to find a lost papa when she stumbles upon Robin Mills, her daemon Locksley perched on her shoulder. And together, their adventure may just take them further than either have ever been before.
Relationships: Alice Jones | Tilly/Robin | Margot, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	The Curiosities of Jabber & Locksley

**Author's Note:**

> So I've finally gotten round to finishing this first chapter of my His Dark Materials/Daemons AU idea I came up with ages ago. I have somewhat of a vague notion of where I want the story to go, but there's a lot I haven't decided yet so we'll see what happens with it. This one's also more likely to be updated more frequently than my CA Mandalorian AU is.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

“There she is!”

Crap. Thought she’d lost them.

She ran.

Bolting over boxes and crates, weaving in and out between the people innocently minding their own business on this fine, fresh day, Alice couldn't really focus on anything else except finding a route to escape.

If she had, she might have wondered how she'd managed to get into this spot of bother so soon upon arriving here. It was almost as if the cops had been waiting for her to make even the most benign of illegal acts on the docks. Did they not have anything better to be doing? Still, at least she was wasting their time away from harassing some poor homeless fellow on the streets.

And in fact, each of these thoughts would wind their way through her head later, when all of the sorry business was over.

But not now.

Now she was sprinting passed a wooden cart, with Jabberwocky, her rabbit daemon, at her side. The dastardly duo.

She saw the alley she was looking for up ahead.

Now was their chance.

She bolted through the market, deftly meandering her way amidst stalls and market sellers, intent on her destination. By the sounds of the scuffling behind her, her pursuers weren’t having nearly as easy a time finding their way through as she was. But she wasn’t going to look back to find out for sure.

She and Jabber made it behind the boxes just in time, almost sliding along the cobbles to half fall against the adjacent wall. The sound of rapid footsteps and shouts passed close by, and she held her breath despite how much she needed to catch it. As the chasers faded away, she finally let herself relax, breathing heavily, her head falling back against the box behind her. She grinned.

“That was close, Alice. Too close.”

Alice smirked, wiping her forehead with the back of her sleeve. “You worry too much,” she said, panting.

“Maybe so,” Jabber said, scratching the back of his ear with his foot. Adrenaline was still coursing through her veins. “but that worry has gotten us out of tight spots before, so you won't make me stop.”

“Oh hush now.” But he was right about one thing. That had been close.

He’d always been the more cautious of the two, calming her down when she needed it. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes not so much.

The alleyway they were in was one they’d spent time in before, it’s dusty walls covered in lichen. It was a fairly small space, enclosed on three sides by walls of buildings and a fence, but it provided a good cover for them. They were far enough away from the docks that the scent of fish wasn’t nearly as pungent as it was elsewhere, but the sea salt air was as welcoming as it always was.

Eventually her breathing steadied, and she shuffled herself back to prevent slouching. Her back seemed thankful for the effort.

She huffed and wiped some muck off her boots on the wall beside them.

“So where to now?”

Alice shrugged, a little dejectedly. “I don’t know. Maybe head back?”

“Well, nowhere soon. You're bleeding.”

Alice looked down at her leg, pulling her dress back to just passed her knee.

Curse that damn fall! She might have gotten away with the whole thing if it weren't for its blasted timing.

Or curse that damn step outside the baker's.

Just curse the whole damn thing.

She was always quite glad the Magisterium couldn't read minds, for she was sure she'd have been put to death well before now with the sheer intensity of her blasphemy. In more ways than one too.

Jabber reached up and gently licked the wound. She winced.

“Oh, it’s nothing. We've had way worse scrapes than this. But you'll need some of that lotion of yours to soothe it.”

“At least I got some of it,” she said, producing a small breadcake from her pocket.

“Get that lotion out first.”

“Alright, alright!” she said, taking a bite out of the bread as she reached into her other pocket and pulled out a small vial. There wasn't a whole lot left.

She dabbed at the wound, grimacing a little as the cool gel came into contact with the cut, before once again tipping her head back to the box. Jabber came and sat beside her, leaning against her other leg, ears and nose twitching for the first sign of danger. She stroked his back.

They stayed there for a few minutes, waiting for the lotion to take affect. But they couldn’t stay there too long.

“Well,” she finally said, more from boredom than anything else, “time to get going. These streets aren't going to walk themselves.” She stood up, wincing.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, of course. Stop worrying,” she said, starting to head off, both knowing she was too stubborn enough to admit it still stung.

But just as Jabber was about to follow after her, the corner of his eye detected something from above, and he swung his head round, ears pricked up and nose twitching.

“Are you coming?”

“I saw something.”

Alice put her hands on her hips, tilting her head. “Oh yeah? Anything interesting?”

“I don't know.” His eyes were still fixed up towards one of the building walls.

“Well that helps. Where is this maybe interesting thing then?”

He sighed. “The fourth window to the right of the duct,” he said, nodding his head up, Alice finally following the direction he was indicating to a window several stories up. 

“Well, I don't see anything. And that building’s shut up and abandoned – you’ve seen out front. Come on, we need to head off if we want to be back before nightfall,” she said, before beckoning him to follow her out of the alley.

Jabber reluctantly began to follow – the threat of separation too great. But his eyes kept falling back to the window.

He could have sworn he’d seen something – or someone - there. Just for a second. And he didn’t like the thought of being watched.

A bird. Small. Brown, with a large conspicuous patch of orange beneath the beak.

Just a flash.

He thought he'd seen a robin.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> So yeah, I've no real clue when the next chapter will be here, although I have somewhat of an idea as to what (or who) it'll be focusing on. My multichap fics other than 'Happy Accidents' are likely to be much more sporadic in their uploadings. Very 'write when feel like it' kinda thing, and what with the HDM TV series being on atm, my mind has been in a HDM mood somewhat.
> 
> I do want the next chapter of HA to be my next big fic focus for the New Year, as I haven't really been working on it since the last chapter. It should be shorter than these last few previous chapters, but who knows? I may also sprinkle in some more ficlets here and there when I get the inspiration.
> 
> Anyway, stay safe everyone!


End file.
